Relational databases came into common use in computers over twenty years ago. Despite improvements in database software and new methodologies, relational databases remain the mainstay of database management systems (DBMS). Hardware vendors originally supported proprietary database management systems which ran primarily on machines manufactured by the hardware vendor. Software developers later developed database management systems that were more open and ran on computers made by several vendors. The database management systems were also ported to run under various operating systems. This gave the advantage of spreading the cost of development over more sites and also uncoupled the dependence between hardware vendors and software vendors. Third party support and training also became more common.
Database management systems also became separated into client-side software and server-side software. This meant that the server-side software was decoupled from software having to do with the display, use, and formatting of the data received from the database. In particular, server-side software often handled mostly queries of existing data along with updates of existing data and insertion of new data.
Modem electronic commerce such as commerce over the Internet or business-to-business electronic commerce has placed increased demands on many servers. This has also made frequent upgrades necessary. Company mergers and acquisitions frequently make it necessary to incorporate large amounts of data from unexpected sources. Customer expectations also make it necessary to upgrade hardware to keep up with the faster response times users expect even though system loads may be increasing as well.
When upgrading or replacing database servers it is necessary to have a good idea as to the transaction handling requirements to be met. It is also desirable to know the DBMS transaction handling processing capabilities of any proposed system. It may be necessary to come up with a good estimate of the transaction handling capabilities of a proposed system. This may be particularly needed in a short time period, as during bid evaluations, during sales presentations, or repeatedly during scenario building.
In some situations, a required or desired transaction handling capability is based mainly on the capability of a known system. It may be the case that a given brand name DBMS server is believed to satisfy a current or future requirement, and the transaction processing capability of that DBMS server for a given benchmark is available from the vendor, A transaction rate could, in theory, be derived from a series of more specific user supplied information or requirements. It may be the case that the user has a more specific idea about what the requirements are for a system, such as detailed transaction specific information.
What would be desirable is a method to determine the required size for a database management system server based on given user supplied inputs. What would be advantageous are methods capable of determining required server size based both on required transaction processing benchmarks and on more detailed SQL processing requirements.